Unrest in Baltimore is affecting local healthcare, DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. agrees to pay $495 million to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit (Morning Read)

TOP STORIES Unrest in Baltimore is affecting healthcare for many people in ways that are […]

TOP STORIES

Unrest in Baltimore is affecting healthcare for many people in ways that are unfortunately under the radar compared to the constant news updates.

DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. has agreed to pay $495 million to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit that accused the Denver-based company of wasting significant amounts of iron and Vitamin D drugs and then billing the federal government for the unused amounts.

LIFE SCIENCE

Cancer drug spending has hit $100 billion worldwide – that’s $75 billion more than five years ago.

The FDA has launched its Global Unique Device Identification Database where the public can look up device information submitted by companies.

Bayer is set to spend $155M on an Isis pharmaceuticals blood thinner.

Cancer of the uterine cervix is the second most common among women in the world, yet cervical exams and subsequent biopsies limit diagnostic accuracy to 60%. That’s why Illumigyn, a privately-held, early stage company, introduced the Gynescope at the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists 2015 Annual Meeting (ACOG) in San Francisco.

PAYERS-PROVIDERS

Could a simple blood test predict cancer years before an actual diagnosis?

TECH

Is the athenahealth bubble about to burst? “It’s hard to short cloud stocks in this environment, but there are a few tailwinds that athenahealth has benefited from that have disappeared, making this stock’s short prospects attractive. ”

American Well’s new mobile app “targets patients with chronic conditions, allowing physicians to reach their customers at home, according to an announcement.”

Smart clothing shipments are expected to surpass 10.2 million units annually by 2020, up from 140,000 units in 2013, according to a report from Tractica.

Meet the new digital health sales and marketing company, Triventis Health.

U.S. biotech startup BioBots just debuted its desktop 3D printer for biomaterials, which was demoed on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt NY — printing Van Gogh’s ear in replica. It combines hardware, software and wetware. It’s the latter area where the core innovation sits, says co-founder Danny Cabrera.

POLITICS

A pilot program created under Obamacare to change Medicare’s payment system saved almost $400 million and will be expanded, the administration has announced.

Paramedics could play a larger role in healthcare, but state and federal regulations are making that difficult.

Despite the track record of initiatives in places like Nevada and Texas, where paramedics are providing in-home care, coordinating patient services and saving millions in the process, Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance plans still won’t reimburse for such work. The program successes to date are only beginning to change that.

A LITTLE EXTRA

In a world where we spend so much time communicating via written messages instead of conversations (this will inevitably tie into the telemedicine arena as well), how do we make sure what we type reflects what we really mean? Punctuation could be a key component. It turns out exclamation marks might not be our friend.

The Morning Read provides a 24-hour wrap up of everything else healthcare’s innovators need to know about the business of medicine (and beyond). The author of The Read published it but all full-time MedCity News journalists contribute to its content.

Shares0
Shares0